Crown Media Holdings (CRWN)

Q4 2012 Earnings Call

February 22, 2013 11:00 am ET

Executives

Allison Bennett - Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations - Crown Media Networks

William J. Abbott - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

Andrew Rooke - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer and Executive Vice President

Charles L. Stanford - Executive Vice President of Legal & Business Affairs and General Counsel

Analysts

Michael V. Pace - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division

Alan S. Gould - Evercore Partners Inc., Research Division

Peter Okin

Richard Lee

Salvatore Muoio - SM Investors, L.P.

Lawrence M. Stern - Stern Capital, LLC

Presentation

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Crown Media Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder this conference call is being recorded.

Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements regarding the company and its performance. The forward-looking statements may concern, for example, expected financial position and operating results, its business strategy, its operating and financing plans and other matters. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in or implied by any forward-looking statements and should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements included in our press release, and our most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed annual and quarterly reports.

Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this conference call based on information known to date to the company's management. The company is not undertaking any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

I would like to turn this call over to Allison Bennett. Go ahead, Allison.

Allison Bennett

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Crown Media's fourth quarter conference call. With me today are: Bill Abbott, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Andy Rooke, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Bill and Andy will comment about the operating results and financial performance for the 3 months and ended -- and year ended December 31, 2012, and then we will open up the call for questions.

We want to emphasize that we will accept any reasonable questions during this Q&A period. But we reserve the right to terminate a caller and move on if we have already addressed their inquiries and the questioning becomes repetitive. I would like to remind everyone that our press release, which contains information on non-GAAP measures, was distributed this morning and is available through the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.crownmedia.net. In addition, our Form 10-K will be filed later today. Now I would like to turn the call over to Bill.

William J. Abbott

Thank you, Allison. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I am pleased to report positive results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2012.

We experienced growth in advertising revenue and subscriber license fees, driving an 8% increase in total revenues as compared to 2011. This increase carried over to our bottom line with adjusted EBITDA increasing by 18% for the year. Throughout the year, we implemented a number of key strategic initiatives and both channels achieved significant milestones.

On the Hallmark Channel side, we unveiled a new brand identity and tagline, optimizing the channel's core values and positioning in the marketplace. We also developed the network's first-ever primetime scripted series and launched a new block of daytime lifestyle programming. Further reinforcing the value of the brand during the holidays, Hallmark Channel concluded the year with yet another successful "Countdown to Christmas" campaign. Meanwhile, Hallmark Movie Channel continues to be one of the fastest-growing networks in cable, recently achieving the key distribution benchmark of 50 million subscriber homes. Parallelling this growth, the network has seen exceptional gains on the ratings front and closed out the year with a banner fourth quarter.

Now I will review the quarterly, full year and 2011 year-to-date -- 2013 year-to-date operating highlights. In the area of content and ratings, for the third consecutive year, Hallmark Channel's "Countdown to Christmas" initiative, anchored by the 12 new movies of Christmas, delivered outstanding ratings, starting a record fourth quarter. Over the course of its run, from November 10 through December 30, Hallmark Channel ranked as the #1 cable network in weekend primetime among households and total viewers and #3 with our target demographic of women 25 to 54. With 1,100 hours of 24/7 holiday programming, "Countdown to Christmas" reached more than 65.4 million unduplicated viewers overall, while our 12 new original movies attracted more than 21.1 million unduplicated viewers.

Our scheduling strategy to premiere new movies every weekend continues to pay off, with the channel claiming the #1 rated ad-supported cable movie of the day for 7 consecutive Saturdays. What's more, 5 of the 12 new original premieres also ranked as the #1 program of the day across the cable television spectrum. And breaking yet another record, our 2012 seasonal programming brought Hallmark Channel its highest week of all time, November 26 through December 2. For the full fourth quarter, Hallmark Channel registered notable growth over the same period in 2011 among women 25 to 54, with an 11% increase in primetime and 16% in total day. The network also registered a 10% growth among household delivery for total day.

We are slowly seeing traction with our new daytime lifestyle block. In fourth quarter, Home & Family reached 9.6 million total viewers and 2.8 million women 25 to 54. In its 10:00 a.m. time slot, the show registered a quarterly 6% increase among women 25 to 54 over the time period average in the third quarter. Building the success of this block is and will continue to be a huge priority for us in 2013. Over the course of the full year, Hallmark Channel saw steady growth, increasing delivery among women 25 to 54 every quarter, with an increase of -- with an overall 10% increase in the demo for total day.

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